To be honest, I’m not much of a gamer. I used to be a bit of a Nintendo fanboy, but I kinda outgrew that phase (although Nintendo and Mario still have a special place in my heart). But I have fond memories of playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on PC when I was in middle school and high school. The immersive plot, amazing characters, and the ability to choose my own path hooked me from the start. Plus, it was Star Wars! It definitely put BioWare on the map for me, and I took notice when Mass Effect was released in 2007. My PC didn’t have the capability to play, and I didn’t own an X360.
But in the winter of 2010, my roommate got Mass Effect 2 on his PC and let me play it. I was immediately swept away by the vast setting, the incomparable voice acting, the great gameplay, the grand storyline. I’d finally found a video game franchise to get hooked on. I picked up an XBox360 that summer and purchased both Mass Effect 1 and 2. Needless to say, I played through them both (more than once), and I began eagerly awaiting the release of Mass Effect 3, the final chapter in what I considered to be (and still consider to be) one of the finest original science fiction sagas ever.
With Femshep. Because Femshep is WAY better.
My copy of Mass Effect 3 came in the mail on Tuesday, March 6, 2012, at around 5:00 pm. And I’m not gonna lie, I binged on it. When my roommate went to bed at 11:00, I took my system to a friend’s dorm room and played until 3:00. I skipped classes; heck, I even skipped a meal! I needed to finish the story of Commander Shepard; I needed to end my story. I finished my first playthrough of Mass Effect 3 on Thursday, March 8 around 11:00 pm. It took me 31 hours. (I’m simultaneously proud and ashamed of the fact that I spent 31 of 54 hours playing one video game).
But if you paid attention to any gaming website around that time, then you know that the ending to the Mass Effect Trilogy was rather controversial, to put it delicately. (Also, there will be SPOILERS from here on out. Because I’m talking about the ending. Duh.) “A three-game, 90+ hour story to save the galaxy all comes down to a choice between red, blue, or green? What about my prior choices? WHAT THE HELL?!?!” That’s a little less delicate. Indeed, I’ll agree that the original ending of Mass Effect 3 had problems, and I am quite glad that BioWare released the Extended Cut that provided a great deal of closure to the story.
But my purpose here with this post isn’t to look at the entirety of the trilogy. I’m not even looking at the specific validity of the ending. Today, I’m looking at choice. One of the foundational components of the Mass Effect Trilogy was the idea that your choices mattered. The decisions you make will have an impact on the game, they will carry over to the next one, and you will be forced to deal with the consequences. Many players felt that this admittedly undercooked and overly simplified ending invalidated the choices they had made throughout the trilogy. Did the end of the Mass Effect Trilogy negate what came before?
It’s a difficult question, and like I said, I will certainly admit that I think the ending to Mass Effect 3 has problems. But I don’t think those problems lie with the plot. For me, the initial shock at the ending was the lack of closure I felt. I’ve spent all this time with all these characters and working with all these alien races to forge an alliance, and I don’t even see the end result? My teammates who were with me in the final charge are suddenly safe and sound? The Normandy crash landed on an alien planet? The mass relays are destroyed? The end credits are already rolling?
They’re like, “WTF?”
The Extended Cut, by and large, fixed these issues. But it did not change the final choice for the player, the choice to destroy all synthetic life, take control of the Reapers, or synthesize organic and synthetic life into a new structure. The Extended Cut adds more understanding to this choice, but the fundamental choice remains. There are no other options. Yet I don’t think that this choice invalidates your prior choices in the trilogy. No, I think the Mass Effect team has something far more sinister in mind with this final choice.
Throughout the trilogy, Shepard has had to make incredibly difficult choices for the greater good. You have had to make sacrifices along the way, whether it was simply the loyalty of a teammate or the fate of an entire race. You have done both great and terrible things in the name of galactic peace, all in the hope that your choices might matter in the end. But ultimately, fate can be cruel and evil. There are events you cannot alter, things you cannot change. The course of fate may be shifted by your decisions, but your destination and your endpoint will remain static. For lack of a better phrase, “you cannot change your destiny.”
It’s a cruel twist of fate to give Shepard a destiny at the end of the Mass Effect Trilogy. Despite your best efforts and despite everything that you have done, you are stuck with this final decision that doesn’t take your prior actions into account, that doesn’t give you any way out. To borrow a phrase from the Terminator franchise, “There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.” Shepard has worked by this philosophy throughout the entire saga; you’ve tried to make your own fate. But in the end, your fate has already been set.
Although yes, the Star Child is kinda dumb.
It’s a difficult idea to come to terms with, and when it comes to the idea and meaning of choice, it turns the message of the Mass Effect Trilogy on its head. Instead of being able to choose your ultimate fate, you are instead forced into a decision where all your prior choices and sacrifices have affected the journey but not the endpoint. Your choices have affected how you view yourself and how others view you, and they may have occasionally altered the story. But in the end, your destination remains the same. It’s similar to the choice mechanics of The Walking Dead; you have lots of choices throughout that game that greatly alter the feel of the game, the way you perceive yourself. But the finish line is still the same.
Despite this, I don’t feel that being forced into this final and untenable decision invalidates the previous choices that you have made in your journey. On the contrary, I think the knowledge that the destination will remain the same makes the journey that much more important. If the end cannot be altered, then the journey is all that we have control of. You still have the power to broker peace between the geth and the quarians or to choose one side over the other. You still have the power to cure the genophage or to shoot Mordin in the back. You can still control the fate of your teammates, your squad that has been with you from the beginning.
I’ve played through the entire Mass Effect Trilogy three times now, and each time I specifically made different choices to see how those choices might affect the game. And rather than affect the actual plot or story of the game, I found that my choices greatly affected how I felt about playing the game. Saving or sacrificing the Council at the end of Mass Effect 1 didn’t really change the plot of Mass Effect 2, but it greatly changed how I carried myself in the second game. Sabotaging the genophage cure in Mass Effect 3 didn’t ultimately affect the story, but I felt absolutely horrendous after I was forced to shoot Mordin in the back. Seriously, I’ve never felt worse about any decision in the entire trilogy.
Yeah, I definitely cried when Mordin died.
The fact that these decisions can elicit that kind of emotional response tells me that they still have great power. They still hold meaning and weight despite the ending. The conclusion of the Mass Effect Trilogy doesn’t invalidate the previous choices that you’ve made throughout the trilogy. Rather, I believe that it enhances them. The original ending of Mass Effect 3 was problematic because of the total lack of closure. But with the addition of the Extended Cut, the trilogy conclusion is now complete.
Your choices may not have an impact on the final outcome. You might not like the final decision that you’re forced to make. But that’s okay. Because the journey is still there, and it’s still important. Your self-perception matters. Your decisions might not impact the destination of your story, but they will certainly impact the journey. And, when it comes to the Mass Effect Trilogy, it’s the journey that truly matters.
Full and final disclosure: if you couldn’t tell, I love Mass Effect, and I’m kinda a nerd about it. I think Femshep is WAY better, and I hate going back to the male version. I usually stick with being a Vanguard and my trusty shotgun, although I’ve dabbled in Infiltrator with a sniper rifle. And I own a Normandy SR2 baseball cap. Like, the actual one that Joker wears. So, I’m a bit of a Mass Effect nerd. And I’ll probably write some more about the trilogy in the future. Consider this the first in an upcoming series.
This. I have one. I love it.
I'm just a grad student who happens to have a fascination with film and television. It's a fun time.
The Snork Says... 
Poor Mordin. D:
I agree so much with what you have said. And I’m a FemShep advocate too, Jennifer Hale was marvelous. Also, where did you get that hat. 😀
I got the hat from BioWare’s online store, but they’ve removed the item, so it’s no longer available. 😦
[…] Choice in the Mass Effect Trilogy (thesnorksays.wordpress.com) […]