Listen after hearing that Bioware caved I couldn't help but feel like a total b**tard for this. I respect Bioware, love 'em! Loved Jade Empire; loved KOTOR to death; and I would have a secret love child with Dragon Age if I were not betrothed to the Megaman series. I wanted a better ending for a few reasons, some were selfish and some were common sense. And also, I would've accepted Shepard dying, but I also believe that if I was well prepared enough that Shepard should live. Now that we won, I can't help but feel like I lost. Like I was at Little League game and spent the majority of it yelling at the coach to bench the kid who keeps hitting grounders, once the kid is benched you think about what you've done and can't help but feel bad. I'm not saying Bioware is in the clear and I'm not saying that we as the fans can justify the backlash, but we do have a valid reason.
A video game is not like a comic or a movie, those are guided experiences. A video game is one where all of the events and occurrences occur via the result of the Player's choice, i.e. Shepard of Mess Effect isn't his own self, in a way, in reality he is the avatar through which we interact with the galaxy. Through Shepard, through a protagonist, do we make our mark on the galaxy. We become as invested in a material as the actual protagonist does. That's where Bioware got it right, they stuck the landing and got flawless scores across the board, it did so well that the Comitee made the Platinum medal just for him! But when we reached the ending, we couldn't help but feel betrayed. Shepard did not act as the Shepard we've known for the past 5 years. That's what was upsetting.
I'm going to forgive Bioware, I will. They've enough good work and have enough notches under their belt to allow for this incident, and maybe even a few more. I'll forgive them regardless, but this is rather upsetting. Picture this: not as a fan, not as a spectator, but as Shepard( I know this will get weird but bare with me, I'm trying my damnedest to not be a total creep right now). You spend all this time, from the discovery of what and who the Reapers were to gathering every single resource the galaxy had to offer in order to save all organic life. You've made choices, sacrifices, friends, romance, all in this quest for survival. But then you reach the tool of all civilizations salvation and find out that no matter which choice you make, we're all doomed. You don't even ask if their cycle has the right to live, that organically and synthetics can live together.
Maybe that could have been its own boss battle, a big philosophical, political, and factual debate on the occurrences of your adventures in an attempt to get the Star Child to understand Shepard's view. Using every choice you made as evidence of this galactic cycle's right to live and end the Reaper extermination cycles. Actually, I would've been more satisfied if that was the ending.
