I have to point out that your choices *do* matter. Did you miss the part about the loyalty missions having a payoff? Warning: spoilers!
I chose to save Wrex in ME1. Therefore, Wrex is still alive in ME2, and plays a significant role in the shaping of Grunt. I chose to make Grunt loyal. In ME3, Grunt returns, and I will tell you here and now that I was ready to throw my monitor across the room, because the choice between him living and dying is what you decide to do about the Rachni queen. If you release her (again!), he dies. If you do not, he lives.
That's how it was written and it's made crystal clear during gameplay, in a very powerful way (hence the monitor-throwing).
But *because* I chose what I had, earlier, I had a third option. I could set the Rachni queen free, and thus gain her support against the Reapers, *and* still save Grunt's life -- and get HIS support against the Reapers. If I hadn't made the choices I had, none of that would have been an option.
So don't try to claim that "none of your choices matter". They *do*. The only part they don't affect is, again, the last 10 minutes. And I'll get to that more in a minute.
This is *one* example. All your previous choices come up, and *make a difference*. I ended up with something over 6000 points in war assets by the time the endgame started. Even Conrad Verner contributed. Fully half of those were touched upon in one way or another, often directly influenced, by choices I had made in previous games. In addition, if story is what matters most to you (it is to me), the amount of tie-in detail is astounding. There are conversations on the Citadel that reference choices you made, that you overhear just walking by. There are personal interactions colored by your previous choices. Liara, Ashley, Jacob, Mordin, Grunt, Wrex/Wreav, Major Kirrahe, Aria -- the list goes on. All of it flows together into the storyline, leading up to the grand climactic moment.
Which is *not* the last ten minutes.
Oh, sure, as written, that's what they were going for. But tell me: did the video you watched show you every detail of the final Earth mission? Did it show how you can go around and say your goodbyes to your friends and compatriots? It's painfully obvious (in a good way) that that's what Shepard is doing. Everyone knows they aren't going to survive this one. There isn't going to be a happy ending. There cannot be. Too much has happened, too much time wasted when nobody would listen or recognize the threat.
But Shepard and the rest have faced their demons, made peace with that fact, and they're ready to do it so that everyone else in the galaxy might live.
THAT is the ending. The last ten minutes, the R/G/B choice? That's *nothing*. That's the wrap-up, the after-show bouncer kicking everyone out. This is what I mean when I say I disliked the last ten minutes, but I don't dislike the ending.
The ENTIRE GAME is the ending. If you focus on the last ten minutes, yeah, you're going to be disappointed. Do I want Bioware to change it? I'm not sure. I'd like the inclusion of a fuck-you option vs. the Catalyst. But I don't demand it and I won't be disappointed if Bioware doesn't provide it, because I know that in MY story, those last ten minutes ended differently.
You can't have it both ways. Either it's your story (and your choices matter, as I state), or it's Bioware's story and your choices don't. And if that's the case, you have no leg to stand on getting upset about it. Don't recommend it, sure. Don't buy it, okay. But I would argue the old adage about judging a book by its cover also applies.
Don't judge the worth of the entire thing by the last ten minutes. Either it's your story and Bioware is just helping you visualize it, or you're a passive observer and have no input, so why do you care so much anyway?
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
I chose to save Wrex in ME1. Therefore, Wrex is still alive in ME2, and plays a significant role in the shaping of Grunt. I chose to make Grunt loyal. In ME3, Grunt returns, and I will tell you here and now that I was ready to throw my monitor across the room, because the choice between him living and dying is what you decide to do about the Rachni queen. If you release her (again!), he dies. If you do not, he lives.
That's how it was written and it's made crystal clear during gameplay, in a very powerful way (hence the monitor-throwing).
But *because* I chose what I had, earlier, I had a third option. I could set the Rachni queen free, and thus gain her support against the Reapers, *and* still save Grunt's life -- and get HIS support against the Reapers. If I hadn't made the choices I had, none of that would have been an option.
So don't try to claim that "none of your choices matter". They *do*. The only part they don't affect is, again, the last 10 minutes. And I'll get to that more in a minute.
This is *one* example. All your previous choices come up, and *make a difference*. I ended up with something over 6000 points in war assets by the time the endgame started. Even Conrad Verner contributed. Fully half of those were touched upon in one way or another, often directly influenced, by choices I had made in previous games. In addition, if story is what matters most to you (it is to me), the amount of tie-in detail is astounding. There are conversations on the Citadel that reference choices you made, that you overhear just walking by. There are personal interactions colored by your previous choices. Liara, Ashley, Jacob, Mordin, Grunt, Wrex/Wreav, Major Kirrahe, Aria -- the list goes on. All of it flows together into the storyline, leading up to the grand climactic moment.
Which is *not* the last ten minutes.
Oh, sure, as written, that's what they were going for. But tell me: did the video you watched show you every detail of the final Earth mission? Did it show how you can go around and say your goodbyes to your friends and compatriots? It's painfully obvious (in a good way) that that's what Shepard is doing. Everyone knows they aren't going to survive this one. There isn't going to be a happy ending. There cannot be. Too much has happened, too much time wasted when nobody would listen or recognize the threat.
But Shepard and the rest have faced their demons, made peace with that fact, and they're ready to do it so that everyone else in the galaxy might live.
THAT is the ending. The last ten minutes, the R/G/B choice? That's *nothing*. That's the wrap-up, the after-show bouncer kicking everyone out. This is what I mean when I say I disliked the last ten minutes, but I don't dislike the ending.
The ENTIRE GAME is the ending. If you focus on the last ten minutes, yeah, you're going to be disappointed. Do I want Bioware to change it? I'm not sure. I'd like the inclusion of a fuck-you option vs. the Catalyst. But I don't demand it and I won't be disappointed if Bioware doesn't provide it, because I know that in MY story, those last ten minutes ended differently.
You can't have it both ways. Either it's your story (and your choices matter, as I state), or it's Bioware's story and your choices don't. And if that's the case, you have no leg to stand on getting upset about it. Don't recommend it, sure. Don't buy it, okay. But I would argue the old adage about judging a book by its cover also applies.
Don't judge the worth of the entire thing by the last ten minutes. Either it's your story and Bioware is just helping you visualize it, or you're a passive observer and have no input, so why do you care so much anyway?
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs