Mass Effect 3 for Dummies

          After spending the afternoon, re-living some of the most touching and painful gamic moments of my life, the internet decided it didn't like the original ending to Mass Effect 3. Sci-fi worlds are incredibly difficult to bring to a close, this I can completely understand, especially in a world as complex and defined as that in the Mass Effect series. My take on the ending is that Bioware wanted to have an ambiguous and grandiose ending, but didn't want to leave the players hanging completely in terms of what happened to their beloved crew, which is why I appreciate its original ending. This instinct obviously didn't work out, as in any sci-fi universe, all or nothing is really the way to go. I personally enjoyed the ambiguity of the ending and thought the complaints about it were unprecedented and childish.

Bioware, I wish they hadn't hurt your feelings because you did a good job and the new ending is, quite frankly a little silly. My biggest problem with this entire debate is that video games are finally beginning to be taken seriously by the general public, and no longer being discredited as an art form. I think all of us gamers can agree that this is a good thing. However, when a piece of art is allowed to be comprised by the complaints of the general public, I believe it loses a great deal of its integrity and puts games back into the juvenile category of creation. What does a piece of art give us if it doesn't leave us with any questions?  In a sci-fi universe, that has endless possibilities, do we really want to be able to completely close the book without being able to fill in any of the blanks for ourselves?

After watching the original ending where the little boy is looking up at the stars talking to his Grandfather, my head filled with thoughts of how the universe would rebuild itself and how things would be different in the cycles to come. Watching a still image of a smiling Krogan, and a giant Reaper vessel picking up a shovel to help rebuild the world so easily, gives me nothing but a generic sense of complete closure of the series that left me feeling robbed of its depth.

Bioware stated that this is not something they plan to do in the future and I am glad to hear it. I know its all fun and games to complain about stuff on the internet, but brash anger and ignorant comments is not the way to help video games become a serious art form, which they truly deserve to be. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there is always fan fiction if you want to answer all the questions yourself.

Video GameGirlfriend (aka Heather) is a freelance video game writer and gamer.
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