I haven’t played Mass Effect 3 yet. Not even the demo. It has been made quite apparent to me that I cannot avoid disussion about the game, as it is everywhere across the Internet. Some of my closest friends are PC gamers with a rich history in Western RPGs, and so it is only natural that they’d be playing the game. Some of my favorite websites are also run predominantly by PC gamers with a love of Western RPGs. As such, it is impossible for me to avoid hearing discussion of this game.

This is unfortunate, as I had wanted to await until the game had reached a lower price point before committing to it myself. Sure, I enjoyed the first two games well enough, but I didn’t have the same love for them as my other friends. I had purchased Mass Effect 2 on sale, and upon doing so was more than satisfied with the wait. Had I given them the full sixty dollars, I would have been rather unhappy with them and with myself. Bioware had gone ahead and fixed what wasn’t broke and thrown away anything that was broke rather than fixing it (pretty sure I’ve discussed this before). In truth, the game had simply gone and sought the more profitable market of Call of Duty players, a rather popular move as of late.

So I had originally resigned myself to just waiting until Mass Effect 3 was $30 itself. Maybe I shall still, but it is proving most difficult with all the chatter online. As anyone reading my blog knows by now, there has been quite a large ruccus made over the ending of Bioware’s sci-fi trilogy. I haven’t been able to gather much, as I want to avoid things being spoiled for me (just because I’m not fanatically enthused by it doesn’t mean I do not care, after all), but trying to go on a “media blackout” is proving near impossible. I may be forced to pick this game up alongside Kid Icarus.

Digressions aside, it has become impossible to avoid having an opinion on the topic. For me, at least. That is what I do, after all. Have opinions. Or I wouldn’t be blogging.

If I understand things correctly, the real problem with the game’s ending is that it is railroaded. A player’s choices, how they played the game, doesn’t matter. It ends the same no matter what the player had done. Many have taken this as going against everything they were told Mass Effect had stood for, that the game was all about making choices that would have an effect on the end game.

Only I cannot possibly sympathize with this idea. It has been clear from the start, particularly since Mass Effect 2, that this was a rail-roaded plot. Sure, Bioware was going to provide some interesting decisions along the way, but they weren’t going to deviate from the story that they wanted to tell.

Let’s think about this seriously a moment. The first Mass Effect ends with the player choosing to either sacrifice a bunch of human ships in order to save The Council, or to sacrifice The Council so that many may survive. It was a moment that made a lot of players pause and really think. I know it made me ponder for a while, which amused my roommates (who had already completed the game) to no end. It was a genuine conundrum, a decision that tested someone’s personal priorities and morals.

So how did this choice really change Mass Effect 2? Well, it didn’t. Sure, there were some dialogue changes, or perhaps a quest opened or closed, but one of the largest choices in the first game was barely felt in the second.

The precedent set in Mass Effect 2 was that any choices resulted in nothing more than dialogue and side quests. Meaningful decisions with consequences was an illusion. No matter what choices you made, the first game ended with the defeat of Sovereign and the rest of the Reapers gearing up for an assault. Mass Effect 2 was always a story where Shepard was working with Cerberus to figure out what the Collectors were up to and finally put a stop to them. Do you really believe the decision to either salvage the Reaper technology or blow it up meant anything?

Anyone expecting these choices to have any more meaning for Mass Effect 3 was deluding themselves. Bioware was always telling an on-rails plot that was going to be told as they saw fit.

Do I think that is right? I don’t know. I loved Dragon Age: Origins partly because the end of the game changed based on your decisions. It may have been nothing but text rather than cut-scenes, but it was something. Yet at the end of the day, the game was still about becoming a Grey Warden and defeating the darkspawn. There was never a choice in this matter no matter what origin you chose or what sort of character you wanted to play.

There is definitely room for discussion in this topic, and I think it is important. I mean, Bioware is one of the few companies that is putting above average effort into their story-telling and providing examples of how this medium can go toe to toe with film or books. As such, one must wonder if a story that allows for player choice should expand and change based on those choices, particularly in the conclusion.

That isn’t what is being argued, though. Instead, everyone is arguing that Bioware should go in and change it.

I am completely against this, and I think that it is even being considered is a crime.

I want people to keep in mind that if video games are going to be taken seriously as an art form, then we must remember that it is also a form of expression. It is different from other entertainment mediums based on the interactive nature, but it is expression nonetheless. Demanding a company churn out an ending that is more appetizing to the masses is the sort of idea that destroys artistic integrity. Just consider the original film ending to I Am Legend being more accurate with the book. It was a meaningful ending that helped make the viewer think. Yet due to test audiences disliking it, the film studio changed it to a happy ending that many have acknowledged is absolutely terrible.

In other words, sometimes it is the uncomfortable conclusion that stands the test of time, and in fact makes a product excellent rather than just good. While I do not imagine Mass Effect 3‘s ending would be comparable to that of I Am Legend‘s, I feel that the same argument is just as valid. To change it just because some people bitch compromise the integrity of Bioware and the team that worked on the game.

It is important to feel frustration. The games industry needs to know that this sort of thing matters, that not everyone wants their annually packaged Call of Duty release. However, demanding a new ending be provided (and probably for a $10 price tag) is not the solution.