Mass Effect 3: Magnificent, Awe-inspiring, Insipid!

NOTE: This blog post contains MASSIVE SPOILERS of Mass Effect 3!!!

/
/
/
/
/



What an amazing ride it has been with Bioware’s incredible sci-fi magnum opus, Mass Effect series. For the last 5 years the creative minds at the company has created one of the most expansive sci-fi universe easily rivaling, I’d even go to say surpassing, the heavy hitters of the genre like Star Wars, Dune and Star Trek. Never before has a work of science fiction garnered so much universal praise as the Mass Effect trilogy: A complex and fully realized futuristic setting? Check. A myriad of very interesting alien races each with their history, mythology and lore? Check. A tense political scenario where history and present predicament come colliding in a grand epic plot? Check. It seems as if Mass Effect has become one of those rare game series that transcends from the video game medium and becomes a part of pop culture, something which video games are still struggling with. In the end Mass Effect will always be remembered as the game series that had the heart to become a beacon for video games as being more than a hobby for geeks, and become the game series which truly breaks into main stream with much fanfare.

Mass Effect 3 can be described in one simple word: EPIC!! Everything about the game, from its sense of urgency as the Reaper's threat becomes real and tangible, the grand scope of the plot with planets being overrun by the sentient  Reapers and every race in the galaxy scrambling together to quell the impending doom, right down to the last poignant mission on Earth. The plot moves at break neck pace bringing together all the story elements from the previous games into a rousing crescendo. Bioware’s writers did a fantastic job in knitting a coherent story line which was riveting and packed an emotional wallop and it was joy to follow the entire saga as it unfolded in the 3 games, Mass Effect 3 being the best in that regard. I also loved the way many of the lingering issues that were going on throughout the saga were resolved like curing of the genophage on Tuchanka or settling the 300 year war between the Quarians and the Geth, or being there with Thane Krios as he breathed his last or helping out Miranda’s family issues. Mass Effect 3 wrapped up all such residual issues from the previous games in a neat and satisfying manner bringing all the character threads to a close. Seeing the relationships I fostered throughout the 3 games come full circle was quite something indeed!

Now on to the game play which in my humble opinion took the best bits of Mass Effect 1 and 2 and created a perfect mixture of cover based shooting and micro management in true RPG fashion. I was quite pleased to find that the RPG mechanics had been brought back in the fold as they almost went missing in the last game. Another addition that was appreciated was weapons customization. Each weapon could be outfitted with attachments making weapons more powerful or accurate etc. Sure the customization wasn’t on the insane level of the JRPG, Resonance of Fate, but it was still pretty robust and I could actually tell the difference of any modifications I did on the different weapons.

The combat was near perfect and the action sequences were really intense. The combat moved at a fair clip and taking down hordes of enemies was done like any good 3^rd person action game (unlike the clumsy combat in the first game). The flow of the battles was raw and visceral, I especially had a blast on Rannoch and Earth with droves of baddies to shoot and shred with biotic skills of Shepard and his team (it took me 2 games to come to grips in using these skills and it certainly made for some fun battles especially against the nasty Banshees!).

Now the production values of Mass Effect 3 were once again a mix bag, a sentiment I’ve had for all the 3 games of the series much to the chagrin of a few of my Unreal Engine 3 loving friends. Look Unreal Engine 3 does a great job when it comes to showing shiny space ships or ships interiors or when it comes to showing epic space battles or when showing the grand expanse of an alien home world. But when it comes to character models the engine seems to struggle quite a bit. The eyes of characters would look creepy, there were quite a few instances of shaky animations and the general ‘muddy’ textures just didn’t impress me at all. Another problem I had with the visuals was it was ridden with glitches: I remember this really power scene before going on the Tuchanka mission which was marred by a graphical glitch that made Shepherd eyes all weird and it just killed off the scene and the impact it tried to create. And because I have the example of the incredible looking JRPG, Final Fantasy 13 whose visuals were astounding, and Mass Effect 3 just didn’t have the graphical fidelity that could out gun Final Fantasy 13!

If I wasn’t impressed by the visuals of the game, the audio department picked up the slack. The voice acting was once again some of the best I’ve ever heard and that made for a rich game experience. Hollywood star Martin Sheen once again provided great chords for the menacing Illusive Man, while Seth Green got a bit more voice time. The voice work of the main characters was phenomenal with Liz Sroka (Tali) doing in an awesome job. Keep your ears open for the Rannoch mission for some awesome voice work by her. Ali Hillis as Liara did solid work as did Keith Davis whose portrayal as Admiral Anderson was exceptional. But Mark Meer’s performance as Commander Shepard was the most nuanced and well rounded and Meer easily discarded the cardboard like performance from the previous games and gave a rousing performance. Bioware’s games always have great voice acting and Mass Effect 3 another fine example. The soundtrack was appropriate and uniformly very good.

With that mini review done I will now write a little about the romantic option I took, some of the best moments from Mass Effect 3 and of course the much talked about ending. So here goes:

The Loving Man:

The female friend that I went for this time was Tali, who I also choose in Mass Effect 2. There was something about Tali right from the start. Admittedly I went for Liara T’soni in the first game, but I was always attracted to Tali as I would make it a point to go to engineering and chat with her. Something about her race: the masks wearing Quarians, their history with the Geth and their mass exodus from their home world all added to the mystique of Tali.  And don’t get me started on the sensual exotic accent of her voice! In Mass Effect 2 I went for Tali and was rewarded with some really innocent puppy love relationship (which got marred by the clumsy love scene), but in Mass Effect 3 I was surprised at how maturely they handled the relationship, I actually felt a connection with her character, something which I have not felt since I ended Final Fantasy 10. The mission on Rannoch was where this was more evident. And then true to Bioware’s promise that they would show what Tali looked like and although they messed that up in spectacular fashion, I wasn't that miffed about it. So in the end Tali was quite the video game character, strong willed and determined but also had a vulnerability which to me was very endearing.

WTF!! Moments:

Here are some of the most awesome moments in the game. Enjoy these video clips:

This moment occurred right at the end of the mission on the Quarian home world of Rannoch. After killing the Reaper I had the chance of either siding with the Geth or the Quarians and for some odd reason I sided with the Geth and saw the entire Quarian race being destroyed and my beloved Tali commit suicide. This was one of the rarest moments in video games which really got to me emotionally (my blood spiked quite a lot and I almost broke down). I quietly pressed reset and loaded a previous save. No way in HELL was I letting Tali die off like that!

The Krogans and their sordid history with the Rebellion Wars and then the race getting decimated by the genophage was very interesting. I always wanted an option to be able to cure the virus and this is what Mass Effect 3 let me do. This scene occurs when I managed to release the cure in the atmosphere of Tuchanka and had lost my crazy Salarian scientist team mate Mordin Solus in the process. Just was one of those amazing moments!

This moment occurred on the Asari’s home world of Thessia. Finding the Prothean beacon and getting answers to my questions by the Prothean VI on the history of the Reapers, the cycle of destruction and the Crucible. Give me Goosebumps! (33:45)

Going towards the very last section on during the last mission on Earth, I get to meet up with every single member of my team. Meeting up with Liara T’soni netted me this great scene which I just cannot explain in words. It was just one of the unique moments of Mass Effect magic!

Ok with that done now it’s on to the most divisive part of Mass Effect 3: The Endings. Note: This section of the post is filled with MASSIVE SPOILERS for the endings. So BEWARE!!

It ends here:

Just when you thought that Mass Effect would create something memorable, utterly EPIC, it almost comes crashing down to its knees! I know a lot has been said and written about the infamous endings, but I still cannot get my head around it. How can Bioware, masters of telling a great tale, end their most popular game franchise with such useless endings is beyond me. There were so many plot holes right at the end that made all the time spend gathering up war assets, spending time resolving issues and killing the Reapers a waste of time. Since finishing the game I have watched a few many YouTube clips where gamers highlighted what was wrong with Mass Effect 3 endings, and the worst bit is I agreed to all of them! Here are some of the problems I had with Mass Effect 3’s ending:

First of was the Illusive Man. The guy spend years upon years trying to find ways to control the Reapers and get incredible power and to that end he did succeed (indoctrination or not), but the way he was killed was stupid. One Renegade option, one bullet, BOOM, Illusive Man, Dead! So the guy who was wielding Reaper’s power was shot dead by a measly bullet from a handgun?!?!

OK so everybody agrees that Mass Effect is an EPIC game franchise right? And Mass Effect 3 was to be the best game in the series right?. Well then where the HELL was my EPIC Final Boss Battle?!!?? Where was the ultimate evil guy (or gal) who’s behind Shepard was to kick?!!? Instead all I got was a few Reaper baddies to kill (OK fine, QUITE a few), but where was the last boss??!!? So Bioware ended the Mass Effect saga without a final boss battle?! And when the first and second game had a last boss battle!!  Don’t know about you guys but this just stinks!

During the last stand we got to see representation from all the galactic alien races, from Krogans to the Asari, but where was the Rachni Queen and her army of creepy crawlies? I didn’t see a single Rachni battling it out against the Reapers. So what was the purpose of recruiting the Rachni again?

Why did the mass relays have to be destroyed? Doesn’t this send the humans back years in terms of technology? What about the other alien races those were in Earth’s orbit. Aren’t they stuck in Earth’s orbit with no chance to returning to their home worlds?

The concept of multiple endings is not a new one. The idea behind multiple ending is to give different perspectives to a game’s story. Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross had 5-9 endings and each of them different from one another. So what in the world happened in Mass Effect 3?! There were a total of 3 endings and each ending was ALMOST identical, expect for the color of the blasts and a little difference here and there. But everything else was the same. How can these be regarded as multiple endings?!

But for me the biggest problem I had with all the ending (YouTube FTW) was the lack of resolution. What happened after the Reapers were destroyed? What happened to the crew of Normandy (apart from crash landing on some planet) and its crew? What REALLY happened to Shepard? Nothing was properly sorted out. And what was the purpose of the ending after the credits? Who were those two nondescript individuals? Look I don’t need a happy or bright ending per say, but at least give me a satisfactory one! And why in the world do I need DLC to get to an ending that makes sense?!. That is poor game design right there! Final Fantasy 13 had a confusing story and there was too much of these random words (L’cie , Fal’cie) but at least I did get an amazing ending which made up for the shortcoming of the entire story. I won’t even remember the small details of the plot but I will always remember the ending to Final Fantasy 13. So why was Mass Effect 3 given such a poor send off? I feel I wasted 83 hours I put in the three Mass Effect games. The RPG that will give Mass Effect 3 run for its money for the Game of the Year award this year, Xenoblade Chronicles, had an amazing ending as well. Sure the last 1/3 of the game became confusing and the techno-babble and religious overtones got a little over bearing but the ending put everything on track. While I was smirking at the end of Xenoblade, I was cursing Bioware for the insipid endings. It’s as if Bioware made a magnificent 3 course meal and then pissed on it!!! 

As so this wraps up my analysis of the only WRPG game (franchise) I ever liked. I am an out and out JRPG fan so Mass Effect series inclusion in my JRPG heavy favorite games list was quite an achievement. I enjoyed every minute of all three games I played. I don’t know if any other WRPG would invoke such a passion from me, (quite A LOT of JRPGS do) like how Mass Effect did. But the sour taste left by the final ending of Mass Effect 3 is too much to swallow and it just dented the experience for me. But in the end Mass Effect franchise was one hell of a series and easily ranks as of greatest game series in gaming history!